If the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, for Canberra reporters this weekend the price of vigilance will mean surrendering their freedom - albeit temporarily.
The “lock-up” as it is known in Canberra parlance, will be in play this weekend to release the Government’s carbon tax / emissions trading plan.
Commonly deployed for the federal Budget, they work like this: Reporters agree to shed all communications devices, phones, wireless computer connections etc. and enter a secure windowless room in Parliament House for a period of several hours leading up the official public release of a policy or reform.
Once inside, they cannot leave or make contact of any kind with the outside world until it’s over. Metal detectors similar to those used at airports are deployed to stop devices being smuggled in and reporters sign contracts agreeing to those terms replete with warnings of criminal penalties for breaches of the official secrets act.
Such is the security focus that the lock-up is sometimes “swept” for microwave signals as a final check against information leakage.
Journalists agree to these bizarre conditions for one simple reason and it is not the stale air, the tooth-picked sandwiches or the instant coffee: it is to gain access to official information in enough advance to make sense of it before reporting and before putting questions to the PM or relevant minister.
This is an important point.
Such time to read, absorb and process is crucial.
But it works both ways.
For the PM, the Treasurer, and the Climate Change Minister, this weekend’s lock-up also gives them a captive audience - literally.
This is called “framing” in communications jargon - which is a another way of saying ‘getting people to see it your way’.
Journalists can expect to receive an armful of documents and at least one highly favourable power-point explanation on how the scheme is to work - everything from price-per-tonne to compensation and industry assistance to the impact on the household budget and the implications for the economy.
At the end journalists will emerge informed and the Government hopes, convinced.
But this Sunday’s lock-up raises a more basic question: why?
In the case of the Budget, the lock-up makes sense. Some financial decisions and forecasts can be market sensitive and are therefore best released after the markets close for the day.
And in truth, governments of both stripes have done well from the fact that much of the reportage - especially in newspapers - is put to bed before the most hostile stake-holder reactions are aired if only because limited time post-lock-up does not allow for much before deadlines and so on.
But this release is taking place on a Sunday so market considerations are clearly moot.
It would not be the hope of initially soft TV coverage on Sunday night surely?
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